The Mount Aspiring College (MAC) 1st XI boys football team are one-and-one after two qualifying games in the Otago/Southland regional qualifying competition for the NZ Secondary Schools Lotto National Tournament.

The competition involves four teams: MAC, Queenstown’s Wakatipu High School, Dunedin’s Kings High School and Timaru’s Timaru Boys High School. The top team in the competition with automatically qualify and the next best team can apply for a wildcard entry. MAC’s lost their first game was against Kings High School who were the region's top team last year and placed 14th in the country at last year’s national tournament.

On Monday June 17, the MAC boys took on Timaru Boys in Timaru. The Timaru Boys dominated possession in the first half, but MAC held them out. The MAC back five unit of right-back Jack Lanigan, center-backs Oscar Humphreys and Levi Fletcher, left-back Ben McNabb and goalkeeper and captain for the day Lukas Schafer shut down the attacks and kept Timaru out, going into the halftime break 0-0.
The second half saw MAC start to take control of the match and put in combination plays; vice-captain of the day, Weston Bell, led the way in midfield and linked well with his follow midfielders Ether Arratia and Xion Lippe, who was later replaced by Red Simpson who had a fine game on debut along with Franta Novak, who replaced Oscar Humphreys at center back and his striker Harry Grimsdale and wing forwards Toa Roode and Jacob Lang. That good work was rewarded when MAC turned the ball over from a Timaru attack and played out from the back with the ball making good forward movement from the defence to the midfield. There was great combination play between Ethan Arratia, Red Simpson, and Harry Grimsdale who saw the ball played back to Weston Bell who slotted the ball into the back of the net just inside the box to give MAC a 1-0 lead. Timaru counter attacked, but MAC picked up their defensive game, which kept them out. With just a few minutes to go, a nice ball was put in front of striker Harry Grimsdale who raced for the ball in a one-on-one battle with a Timaru defender and beat his opponent on the line to slip a ball into the box about two yards out allowing right wing Toa Roode to tap it in, which gave MAC a 2-0 lead and the game.

Striker Tyler Danielson come off the field with a pulled hamstring in the first half and will likely miss the final two qualifying games. Midfield fielders Michael Gealogo and regular captain Fletcher Cavanagh should be good for the next game after missing the Timaru game due to injury and illness.
The MAC boys 1st XI will face Otago Boys this Monday at the Wanaka Recreation Centre (WRC), with kick off at 12:30pm in the first of two home games. MAC will face their Central Otago rivals, Wakatipu High School, the following Monday (July 1) at WRC with kick off at 2pm.